U.S. Department of Justice
Washington, D.C. 20530
June 9, 1992
TO: Heads of Department Components
FROM: Harry H. Flickinger
Assistant Attorney General
for Administration
SUBJECT: Time-Off Awards
On April 22, 1992, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a final rule to implement a provision of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (FEPCA) which provided agencies with the authority to grant time off from duty, without loss of pay or charge to leave, as an incentive award. Bureau Personnel Officers were provided with a draft of the Department's proposed policies, guidance, and procedures to implement time-off awards in a memorandum from the Director, Personnel Staff, Justice Management Division (JMD), dated September 19, 1991. All views and recommendations received on our proposed implementation of time-off awards were, of course, carefully considered and many were incorporated in the final version.
To avoid delays in the implementation of time-off awards within the Department, we are, as an interim measure, issuing the attached policies, guidance, and procedures in memorandum format. The provisions of this issuance are effective as of the date of this memorandum and will remain in effect until superseded by a revision of DOJ Order 1451.lA, Incentive Awards Program.
Each bureau is encouraged to establish time-off awards as a part of its Incentive Awards Program. In the implementation of timeoff awards, any questions on policy matters should be directed to Jim Verner, Personnel Staff, JMD, on 514-6782, and questions on systems processing should be directed to Melinda Morgan, Finance Staff, JMD, on 501-6781.
Attachment
A. Responsibilities.
1. The Assistant Attorney General for Administration. The Assistant Attorney General for Administration (AAG/A) has overall responsibility for the implementation within the Department of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (FEPCA) authority for the granting of time off to employees as an incentive award. The AAG/A will ensure that data is collected and maintained on this area of the Department's Incentive Awards Program, and conduct reviews and audits of bureau policies, practices, and procedures as necessary to assure effective administration and compliance with requirements, and ascertain needs for improvement.
2. Heads of bureaus. The heads of bureaus are responsible for the implementation and proper administration of time-off awards within their respective organizations, and the delegation of approval authority for time-off awards that do not exceed one workday to the lowest practicable supervisory or managerial level. For the purposes of the administration of time-off awards, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Executive Office for United States Attorneys and Offices of the U.S. Attorneys, United States Marshals Service, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Justice Programs, and collectively the Offices, Boards, and Divisions of the Department are considered bureaus. The AAG/A will be considered the bureau head for the Offices, Boards, and Divisions of the Department.
3. The Director, Personnel Staff, Justice Management Division. The Director, Personnel Staff, is responsible for advising and assisting the AAG/A on all aspects of the Department's implementation and administration of time-off awards, and for the provision of advice and assistance to the bureaus.
4. Supervisors and Managers. Supervisors and Managers are responsible for ensuring that employee requests for use of time-off awards are granted, denied, or cancelled in an appropriate and consistent manner based solely on the operational needs of their respective organizations. The use of time-off awards must be planned and scheduled in order to avoid (to the greatest extent possible) forfeiture. Supervisors and Managers must also ensure that time-off award usage is properly documented and recorded. If delegated such authority by the head of the bureau, supervisory or management officials can grant time-off awards for their employees (without higher level review or approval) that do not exceed one workday.
B. Policies and Procedures. The following Departmental policies and procedures are established to ensure consistency and effectiveness of the FEPCA authority of granting time off to employees as an incentive award.
1. Time-Off Award. 5 U.S.C. 4502(e) authorizes the granting of time off from duty, without loss of pay or charge to leave, as an incentive award. Time-off awards are intended to recognize superior accomplishments or other personal efforts that contribute to the quality, efficiency, or economy of Government operations. They should be used principally to recognize contributions that are of a one-time, non-recurring nature, but may also be used to recognize sustained high-level performance. However, if recognizing sustained superior performance, components must ensure that time-off awards are not being used as a substitute for performance awards or to circumvent the statutory limits placed on the granting of performance awards for employees covered by the Performance Management and Recognition System (5 U.S.C. 5406) [Note: This provision was subsequently repealed.] or for members of the Senior Executive Service (5 U.S.C. 5384).
a. Criteria. The following are the types of contributions an employee must make in order to be eligible for a time-off award.
b. Eligibility. All employees who meet the definition at 5 U.S.C. 2105 are eligible for time-off awards, with the exception of Presidential Appointees who are not subject to the Annual and Sick Leave Act. A covered employee may be granted a time-off award regardless of his/her length of service with the Department, and the receipt of a prior cash, honor, or other incentive award is not disqualifying.
c. Approval Levels. Except where the head of the bureau has delegated authority to supervisors to approve time-off awards that do not exceed one workday, each determination to grant a time-off award, including the amount of such award, shall be reviewed and approved by an official of the bureau who is at a higher level than the official who made the initial recommendation, unless there is no official at a higher level in the bureau. In lieu of higher level officials, incentive awards boards or committees may review and approve time-off awards if delegated such authority by the head of the bureau. Approval levels for time-off awards will be established by heads of the bureaus and must be consistent with equivalent monetary approval levels within the bureau. Time-off award recommendations for members of the Senior Executive Service must be submitted to the Deputy Attorney General, or designee, for review and approval.
d. Amount of Award and Limitations.
(1). A full-time employee may be granted a maximum of 40 hours of time off from duty as an incentive award for any single contribution that meets the criteria. Time off granted to an employee must be scheduled and used within one year after the award is made. However, supervisors should encourage employees to use the time off within 120 calendar days after approval. The total amount of time off a full-time employee may be granted during any one leave year is 80 hours. The maximum amount of time off that can be granted during any one leave year to a part-time employee or employee with an uncommon tour of duty is the average number of hours of work in the employee's biweekly scheduled tour of duty, and the maximum amount that can be granted for any single contribution is one-half of the total leave year maximum. The average number of hours of work in the biweekly scheduled tour of duty for such employees should be calculated, if possible, upon their work schedules during one year preceding the granting of the time-off award.
(2). The minimum time-off award that can be granted is four hours, and time-off awards can only be used in increments of four hours or more, with the exception of ending balances of less than four hours -- which must be used in their entirety.
(3). If the total amount of a time-off award is not used within one year after its approval, any unused time off is forfeited and is not eligible for restoration. A time-off award cannot be converted to cash under any circumstances, and therefore cannot be converted to a lump-sum payment upon separation of an employee. A time-off award is not transferrable to another Federal agency if an employee has unused time off to his/her credit at the time of separation from the Department.
Also, time off cannot be recredited to an employee's account if an employee separates and returns to the Department after a break in service of more than three calendar days. Time-off award balances are transferrable between organizations of the Department. In such cases, the timekeeper's file (see Section B.i.h.(4).] must be furnished by the losing component to the gaining component within one pay period after the employee's separation.
e. Relationship to other Awards.
(1). The receipt of a time-off award is not disqualifying for the subsequent granting of any other cash or honorary incentive award and vice versa. However, the same contribution should not be used as the basis for a time-off award and another award, unless the time-off award or other award is deemed clearly not adequate to recognize the value of the employee's contribution. In such rare cases, it may be appropriate to couple a time-off award with a cash or honorary award.
(2). Time-off awards should not be granted to employees in positions or organizations where the workload is so heavy or demanding that requests for approved absences are frequently denied or the absence of an employee could adversely affect efficient operations. The granting of monetary or honorary awards may be more appropriate in such circumstances. If monetary awards are granted in lieu of time-off awards for these reasons, the amount of the monetary awards should equal the value of the time off which would have been granted.
f. Relationship to Leave Programs.
(1). Time-off awards are not annual leave and are not subject to the general forfeiture rule which applies at the end of a leave year to annual leave in excess of an employee's annual leave ceiling. However, the use of time-off awards (like the use of annual leave, excused absence or administrative leave, compensatory time-off, or leave without pay) after a cancelled period of scheduled annual leave (unless covered by a separate period of "annual leave scheduled and approved before the deadline date") is considered as rescheduled and used annual leave, or as available time for annual leave usage in the determination of excess annual leave eligible for restoration to a separate leave account.
(2). Time-off awards to an employee's credit will affect an employee's eligibility to receive donated annual leave under the Department's Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP). Annual leave cannot be transferred to an approved leave recipient under the VLTP until his/her time-off award balance has been exhausted. Since time-off awards are not annual leave, time-off award balances cannot be transferred to approved leave recipients under the VLTP.
g. Documentation Requirements. A time-off award must be supported by written justification which indicates that the employee's contribution met one of the criteria for the granting of this award and clearly merits the amount of time off approved. It is recommended that required documentation be kept to a minimum, and components are encouraged to develop a simple form for this purpose. Time-off award written justifications and approvals must be provided to servicing personnel offices (SPOs) and be retained for possible submission to OPM.
(1). The amount of time off granted must be documented on a Standard Form (SF) 50, Notification of Personnel Action, which will be retained on the permanent side of the employee's official Personnel Folder (OPF). The Nature of Action is 872/Time-Off Award and the authority is V3E/5 U.S.C. 45O2(e). The action documenting a time-off award will be effective on the date the time-off award is approved. The number of hours granted will be inserted in block 20 (salary/award) of the SF 50.
(2). When an employee separates from the Department, an 872 action must be effective on the date of the employee's separation. Block 20 of the SF 50 must reflect the total award hours taken by the employee from the beginninq of the leave year throuqh the date of separation, and remark "N6O/This action records total Time-Off Award hours used durinq the current leave year" will explain the action. The action must be processed by no later than the end of the pay period following the employee's separation. Bureau Personnel offices are responsible for ensuring that the OPF copy of the SF 50 is filed in the employee's OPF before the folder is sent to the next employing agency or to the National Personnel Records Center for storage.
h. Recording-Requirements. Time off resulting from a time-off award must be maintained manually by the recipient's timekeeper. To record time off usage and maintain the account accurately, time-off awards and balances must be maintained in a separate account that is documented in the "Remarks Section" of the Time and Attendance Report. When a time-off award is granted, the SPO will immediately forward the SF 50 to the timekeeper, who will:
(1). Report the usage with OC 1408;
(2). Make an entry in the "Remarks Section" showing the number of time off hours granted, the deadline date when the time off must be used, and the reason for this entry. Since an employee may have more than one occurrence of this award, the timekeeper must ensure accounts are separately maintained;
(3). Carry the total used entry to the "LEAVE RECORD" Section; and
(4). Maintain a file of the approved time-off award(s), along with the original approved SF-71, Application for Leave, and any other supporting documentation.
2. Consultation with Unions. Bureaus with employees in exclusive bargaining unit(s) must meet their obligations under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute prior to implementation of time-off awards.